There was not reason for him to ride Dunn/Konerko 3 and 4 from start to finish if things werer broke.

Think of how many more games possibly they could have won had AJ hit 3rd and Rios 4th the entire 2nd half.

They possibly could have won the same, maybe even less. Seeing as how there is no replacement for Konerko I don't see how dropping him in the order would have really helped. He would be producing the same no matter where he was in the lineup. There's also no guarantee that moving AJ and Rios up would produce different/better results. But I guess it's going to be 'Blame Ventura' now for the woes of this team.

They possibly could have won the same, maybe even less. Seeing as how there is no replacement for Konerko I don't see how dropping him in the order would have really helped. He would be producing the same no matter where he was in the lineup. There's also no guarantee that moving AJ and Rios up would produce different/better results. But I guess it's going to be 'Blame Ventura' now for the woes of this team.

Yeah, I can't blame Ventura for going with his main guys. He has no bench. This team just wasn't good enough or deep enough in the end.

Unless Rios would have been allowed to bat nine consecutive times, it would have been hard to construct a good lineup lately.

I don't necessarily disagree with you but Dunn was hitting .200 killing opportunities and potential rallies. I don't see what was wrong with A.J. or Rios up there with a better average, getting maybe one more at bat a game, turning the lineup over etc.

They possibly could have won the same, maybe even less. Seeing as how there is no replacement for Konerko I don't see how dropping him in the order would have really helped. He would be producing the same no matter where he was in the lineup. There's also no guarantee that moving AJ and Rios up would produce different/better results. But I guess it's going to be 'Blame Ventura' now for the woes of this team.

Yes, if they were going to suck they were going to suck at any part of the order.

But I would rather the other two guys have gotten perhaps an extra AB every other night than the other two.

Paulie also missed time with a bad back this year too. Konerko is getting up there in age now and I'm beginning to wonder if his body can handle the daily grind as a position starter. I wonder if the Sox would consider moving Paulie into the full time DH role next season? Dunn was competent at 1B this year and a DH switch could theoretically keep Paulie healthier and more offensively productive.

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